Marked for Andrey Vasilyev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 2027
Nikita Panov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Metallurg can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Metallurg are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Alexey Skvortsov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Irtysh to sit and watch. I want to come back to Metallurg and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
Market1 Mar 2027
Add another name to the list: Chernomorets have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alexandr Danilov. The answer from Metallurg has not changed — yet.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
Bulat Sadykov damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Kirill Saraev breaks a bone — 96 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match15 Feb 2027
Irtysh are in real trouble now
Position 6, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Andrey Vasilyev: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Irtysh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Irtysh
Alexandr Smirnov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market15 Feb 2027
The name of Andrey Savin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Irtysh say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match30 Jan 2027
5 matches without a win for Metallurg
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Metallurg are no longer polite ones.
Match30 Jan 2027
5 matches without a goal for Metallurg
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ilnur Badrtdinov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Maxim Vedeneev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kirill Dontsov, and the manager let it.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Metallurg, and 0 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
The afternoon belonged to Artem Ntumba
A mark of 7.30, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Alexey Skvortsov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Irtysh to sit and watch. I want to come back to Metallurg and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Match2 Jan 2027
Znamya Truda left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniil Chernyakov, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Vildan Yermilov
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Vildan Yermilov has come out of that comparison in the side, and Metallurg have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Metallurg's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Metallurg has to find a result from somewhere.
Match5 Dec 2026
Metallurg cannot find the net
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Metallurg may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rustam Berzegov and Metallurg agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Alexey Skvortsov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Diogo Medeiros was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Irtysh to sit and watch. I want to come back to Metallurg and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Dinamo Bryansk will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Irtysh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexandr Smirnov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Irtysh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I watch every Irtysh game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chertanovo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Metallurg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Denis Semin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Maxim Vedeneev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Metallurg, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
The afternoon belonged to Artem Ntumba
A mark of 7.60, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Match7 Nov 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Kvant defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Oct 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Metallurg, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match10 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Metallurg
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ilnur Badrtdinov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Alexey Skvortsov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Metallurg, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Irtysh
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Irtysh are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Irtysh
Alexandr Smirnov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match12 Sep 2026
Irtysh cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bilal Bilalov, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Aznaur Geryugov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market14 Sep 2026
Miroslav Aristov is 16, and Irtysh have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Alexey Solovjov's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Match12 Sep 2026
Irtysh and Murom cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Murom came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match12 Sep 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Metallurg did not have in the autumn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Alexey Skvortsov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match12 Sep 2026
Strogino made Metallurg work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Diogo Medeiros was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Market14 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alexey Skvortsov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.